The Donkey's Burden

 

Before Jesus’ birth in human form to Mary, she and He rode on a beast of burden to Bethlehem. That beast, a donkey, did not know where he was going until Jospeh led him there. He did not recognize the heavy prize he carried. The donkey plod under the weight of pregnant Mary going to where Joseph led him. He became one of the first in creation to witness the newborn King.

Skip forward thirty-three years to Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem. More happens than a donkey found, cloaks laid on the donkey, and cloaks and palm branches laid on the ground. Consider what each of the people in these verses consider and call Jesus. This comprehension will lead to an understanding of Jesus’ authority to cleanse the temple and die for each person.

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and, at once, you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away” (Matt. 21:1-3, NIV).

Matthew chapter twenty-one tells of Jesus and His disciples going to Jerusalem for the Passover. The disciples had seen Jesus heal people, give sight to the blind, welcome the lowly and poor, and eat with the outcasts. They saw Jesus teaching with power and authority. When Jesus instructed the disciples to fetch a donkey and told them how to respond to inquiries about it, Matthew's readers grasped that the disciples acknowledged Jesus' authority. To the disciples, Jesus was more than just a teacher. He was more than a rabbi. The disciples recognized Jesus for who He is, the sent One from Yahweh, the God who is, was, and always will be. They followed Jesus’ instructions assured of the truth of what Jesus said. Yahweh and Jesus have authority.

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey’” (Matthew 21:4-5).

Jesus, to the disciples and other followers, was more than a rabbi. He showed He had authority over life, death, sickness, and health. Jesus spoke truth with power and gave His authority and power to His disciples. In verses four and five, Matthew reminded his readers and hearers of what Zechariah prophesied at God’s command in Zechariah 9:9. He foretold this King. This King of which Zechariah spoke foreshadowed the Messiah. Zechariah prophesied, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey.” Matthew agreed with what Zechariah wrote and proclaimed it happened when Jesus entered Jerusalem just days before His betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion. He reiterated what Zechariah said and pointed out Jesus is the King. As one who has authority, Jesus is the King, Matthew declared. He was the one riding on a donkey that day. As the proclaimed King, Matthew attested to and declared Jesus is the sovereign leader in governance, military, and religious life. Jesus is ruler over all life, Matthew made sure the people understood. Jesus is the one who came to fulfill God’s foretold prophecy, of which Zechariah spoke. Matthew declared Jesus the divine King from God. Jesus has all authority, sovereignty, and power. He is more than an earthly king. In exercising His authority, the people had seen, heard, and realized, Jesus is humble, humble enough to fulfill the prophecies foretold by each prophet. He, the one Yahweh promised, will save humanity from sin and death.

Jesus, Matthew wrote, has authority and power, and is sovereign over all that is. Verse nine tells Matthew’s readers more about Jesus. He described non-disciples' reactions to Jesus, revealing their viewpoint of Him.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven” (Matthew 21: 6-9).

Matthew recorded the disciples’ obedience, the donkey owner’s recognition and permission, and a large crowd's acknowledgement in these verses. The disciples and donkey owner recognized Jesus’ authority and honor. The crowd’s reaction to Jesus entering Jerusalem shouted of who Jesus was in their minds. Potentially, this perception took hold in the people’s hearts. The authority the crowd inferred and the words they proclaimed about Jesus as He rode the donkey into Jerusalem declared who they believed and wanted Jesus to be. They called Jesus the Son of David, the One whom the LORD sent.

So far, in Matthew 21, the disciples and the donkey owner affirmed their belief in Jesus’ authority, power, and sovereignty as the King who came to fulfill the prophecies. Now, the regular people, the Jews, exclaimed “Hosanna,” which in Hebrew meant, “Lord save us”. By the New Testament time, hosanna meant to praise and exalt. More interestingly, the crowd referred to Jesus as the Son of David. King David is an ancestor of Jesus, as a son of Mary and Joseph. This exclamation by the crowd meant more than that. A son in Jewish understanding brings with it a covenantal relationship with God. Mary and Joseph’s firstborn son was a fulfillment of God’s prophecy to them and to humanity, as the angel told them. When the crowd declared Jesus as the Son of David, they recognized Him as fulfilling the prophecy. Jesus was the direct blood descendent of their beloved King David, the covenantal son between God and Mary and Joseph, the covenant God had with Israel, and the fulfillment of God’s promises to send a Messiah. Jesus is the physical and spiritual fulfillment of God’s covenant and prophecies. As the Son of David, the people declared Jesus as the Son of God, the prophesied Messiah from God.

When the crowds of people proclaimed, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they exalted and praised Yahweh and the Son, Jesus the Messiah. They exclaimed Lord and King, save us! This equating Jesus as the Son of David and anointed Holy One from God was not an interpretive stretch.

The people continued exalting and proclaiming in verse nine by saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” They recognized Jesus was the blessing from God. He was God embodied. The people exalted and praised God and Jesus, and they exclaimed Jesus came from God. Coming in the name of the Lord meant Jesus came with the reputation, glory, and renown of Yahweh (the LORD) because they recognized God sent Him. Saying Jesus came in the name of Yahweh meant He came with the authority, character, reputation, and identity of God. Jesus came from God and is God; He is the essence of God.

Jesus is Lord, King, and Teacher with authority, power, majesty, renown, and sovereignty. God sent Him to bless and fulfill Yahweh’s covenant with His people, Israel. By people’s trust in what He said and did, Jesus demonstrated He was the Son of David, the King, the Messiah, and the Teacher.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee” (Matthew 21:10-11).

This recognition by the disciples, donkey owner, and the crowds flocking to Jerusalem for the Passover occurred before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. When Jesus entered the gate of Jerusalem, the people inside the city heard the crowd/s praises. They wondered who or what caused the stir. The Greek word for “stir” speaks of a metaphorical agitation from an earthquake. This stir shook the people inside the gates and made them ask questions and pay attention. When God enters, people and all creation notice. They ask about the ruckus.

When the people in Jerusalem asked who the man was who rode upon a donkey, the crowds replied. Their answer showed some people had become stirred up by God’s presence; but, they may not have understood who Jesus was. The people who replied to the question Matthew recorded in verse ten called Jesus a prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. They were correct, but did not know the whole truth yet. These people would get to watch the unfolding moments and days in Jerusalem. They would watch the working out of God’s salvation plan. The people would hear, then some would believe, that Jesus was more than a prophet. Jesus was the ultimate prophet, the One who heralded—prophesied—His own coming with the consummation of His life-given sacrifice and life-giving resurrection. Until that time, people referred to Him as a prophet without fully grasping His roles as teacher, prophet, Son of David, King, and Lord.

Understanding who Jesus was, is, and will forever be is the doorway to eternal forgiveness and life. Jesus offers forgiveness because He paid the judgment price for sin with His life given as the sacrifice on the cross. With authority, He spoke to heal people. Jesus speaks even now and stirs each person to action, to seek Him or ignore the conviction. He commands with authority, and people go where He told them, or do not. Jesus, incarnate, lived a sinless life to defeat and offer pardon by His death.

Each person can put their trust in Him, thereby conquering sin and receiving Jesus’ cleansing forgiveness or not. The prophesied King, Jesus came from David’s and accomplished more than people anticipated. People can see and choose to trust in Jesus or not. Jesus carried and fulfilled God’s final covenant through His life, death, and resurrection. Some people choose to see, hear, listen, and understand, and others do not.

Many people proclaim with all creation, “Hosanna, save us, Lord! We praise and exalt You.” Yet many people do not. Jesus is one of the three personages that comprise God. The Jews on the road to Jerusalem that day recognized Jesus had God’s character, is, in His essence, God, the final King, the only Lord, eternal Yahweh, and Redeemer. Each person can choose to believe in Him or not. God never forces Himself on people. He calls each one. God stirs their hearts and minds. He puts people around them who believe and proclaim Him, like the disciples, donkey owner, and people in the crowd.

God had a higher purpose for a stubborn animal of burden. Jesus freed it from its tether. He called it to use for His purposes. Jesus had it walk with Him through the cheering and singing. Each of us is like this donkey. We can receive freedom by the Lord’s command. Given for His purposes. Walk in His parade. See Him work. Feel the weight of Him and His sorrows. And then watch as people accept Him. The Lord can grant us freedom, like this donkey, and use us for His purposes. We need only go to Him.

When Jesus slid off the donkey’s back, the donkey’s burden, though heavy for a moment, was no more. Jesus changed the role of the donkey. His burden became easy. The donkey’s divine burden brought joy, peace, hope, salvation, love, and eternal life to people. Jesus removed the burdensome weight and freed the donkey. He released the donkey for a greater purpose. At day’s end, the donkey’s master probably collected him, but the grandeur and excitement of that day may have never left the donkey or its owner. Jesus changed the donkey’s burden into joy. Each person can have their burdens exchanged for joy by receiving the freeing and redeeming mercy and grace God gives to everyone who believes in Jesus as their Savior.

The donkey was just an animal, but each person can be like a donkey, at times. Jesus can free you from the weight of your burden. He wants to do it. Jesus can use you for His higher calling. That does not mean you will not have to labor. Life will not always be easy. You can have joy, peace, and the knowledge that this life on earth is not the only purpose for which we live. We exchange the heavy burdens of the world for God’s. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. You have an eternity to live with God awaiting you, for which you can look forward. What must you do for Jesus to save you? Paul summarized it in Romans 10:9-10. He wrote,

If you declare with your mouth “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified (made right with God), and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

This boils down to the ABCs of becoming a Christian:

Admit you are a sinner.

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (from your sins and eternal death due to your sins).

Confess with your mouth your sins and your belief in Jesus. Then you will be saved.

Now is your time to allow the stirring in your heart and mind to lead you to Jesus and salvation, or not. You get to decide. You are at a decision point. I pray you follow God’s stirring in your heart and walk in the parade of the saints who preceded you. Join them and proclaim,

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest heaven!

Imitation and Arrogance

 

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.” (3 John 1:11)

Diotrephes refused to give shelter and food to Christians passing through his town. This happened often enough that John was compelled to write about him in his third letter. This one-chapter epistle is about what Diotrephes was doing, how he viewed himself, and what the good Christ-follower should be and do.

John began by commending Gaius for what Christians are expected to be and do—be hospitable to traveling teachers of Christ. Gaius’ actions came from his relationship with and obedience of Jesus and were the baseline of what was expected of Christ-followers.

After setting the example, John juxtaposed the alternative with Diotrophes’ actions and attitude. Diotrephes refused to receive instruction about being hospitable to traveling Christ-followers.  To John, this signaled an arrogance problem. That arrogance led Diotrephes to feel self-important and tout it aloud by slandering traveling evangelists. His heart problem led to a speech problem. Diotrophes’ heart problem led to an action problem; he refused to give shelter, sustenance, and support to Christian travelers. He farthered this attitude by forbidding his congregants to offer hospitality and excommunicating those who gave shelter and food against his command.

Diotrophes had a “me” problem. He determined church law is what he demanded. For Diotrophes, church actions were what he approved. What he commanded, said, and did was the “law.”

John’s example of Diotrophes taught a succinct Christian truth. He wrote, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God” (vs 11). John applied Jesus’ teaching of the two greatest commandments from Matthew 22:36-40. He made a teachable moment. Loving God and your neighbor includes giving shelter, sustenance, and support, at the minimum, to fellow believers.

John’s letter, directed to rebuke Diotrophes, provided edification and commendation. He taught believers should be hospitable. Additionally, John commended Gaius and Demetrius by using them as the example of how a Christ-follower should speak, act, and consider themselves compared to others.

From this short letter, we are led to consider how God is prompting us. Do we need an attitude/heart change, so we are more like Jesus? Do we need to alter how we live and what we say so we act and speak like our Savior? Do we need to grow more in our relationship with God? These questions should be part of your daily time(s) with God.

 Where do you not have a heart like Christ? In what area of life do you regard yourself as the authority? What are you doing and saying that does not imitate Jesus or look like what He taught?

Do you look and sound like Jesus, Gaius, and Demetrius or like Diotrophes?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:36-39)

No Temporary Tabernacle

And the Word (Christ) became flesh and tabernacled among us; and we (John and the disciples) saw His glory, glory as belongs to the only begotten Son of the Father, who is full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, paraphrase)

In the Old Testament, God told Moses to build a tabernacle for Him. In it, He would dwell and be with the Israelites as they journeyed to the Promised Land. God told them with what to build the tabernacle and its size, and what furniture and vessels it would contain. Since its construction was of cloth and wood, the tabernacle was easy to assemble and disassemble as the Israelites journeyed to the Promised Land. This tabernacle shone during the night. It was the light of God for the Israelites to see and remember God was among them. A cloud descended upon the tabernacle when Moses entered it to be with God. When Moses came from the tabernacle, his face shone with the glory of God and the people feared death because they recognized they could see God’s glory. They remembered that anyone who gazes upon God would die. The Israelites asked Moses to cover his face after he had been in God’s presence for fear they would die.

John told about Jesus in the first chapter of his gospel. He called Jesus the Light. God was the God light to the Israelites since they left Egypt. God’s light from His being led them as they walked at night. His light showed He was in His tabernacle. God’s light showed God’s presence. Jesus came to earth as a human, bringing God's light and glory among the people. In John 1:9-10, John wrote, Jesus was the true Light. Despite creating the world, Jesus went unrecognized and disbelieved by His own people during His time on earth.

In verse fourteen, John returned to God’s glory and Light, God’s plan revealed through Jesus. John explained the truth about Jesus. Jesus, the Word of God, was born in human flesh. He gave up His throne in heaven. God's plan is to save people from the judgment their sins deserve on judgment day. He desires no judgment or condemnation for anyone. God wants to have an eternal relationship with everybody. He made a way to rescue each person from the sin judgment of separation from Him. John said, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” For our sins and God’s love for us, Jesus left His throne to be born as a human, to teach each person about God’s love and plan for their salvation, and then to be the sacrifice needed to pay the penalty for the sins of each person who will believe in Him.

John continued about who Jesus is and testified for himself and the disciples. He wrote, “We actually saw His glory, glory as belongs to the only Son of the Father.” Remember, in the Old Testament, God dwelled in the tabernacle and, later, the temple. His glory shone from the tent and the faces of the men who met with Him. Jesus became God’s glory among the people. Jesus, the Son of God, dwelled with the people. “God with us,” Emmanuel, is Jesus. From Jesus shone God’s glory. Jesus did not lose His divinity when He lived on earth as a man. Divine is who Jesus is. He and God are one. God’s divinity and glory are Jesus’ divinity and glory. Jesus became “God with us” at His birth. The glory of God shone on earth for everyone, not only the Israelites who built the tabernacle and temple.

Jesus’ life on earth showed the truth of who He is. His grace—divine favor, kindness, and love—and His miracles revealed His divinity and glory. Jesus tabernacles with us. He did not merely live in Israel. Jesus showed His glory, power, majesty, and truth as He acted and spoke and, by these, showed the people He is divine. Jesus walked among people. He truly is “God with us.” Jesus revealed and became the gospel plan to rescue people from the death sentence and eternal separation from God their sins deserve. By God’s grace—His undeserved love—Jesus tabernacled among people. God showed He is more than transcendent; He cares what happens in our lives. God is imminent. He is here every moment, walking with us—tabernacling with us—guiding us through life and rescuing us in times of trouble and from our sins. That is the meaning of “God with us”—helping and rescuing us daily. God's salvation plan protects us daily from sin and harm, both now and in eternity.

God became flesh and tabernacled—dwelled—among us. He is, was, and will always be. He is for us, not against us. Are you daily meeting God in the tabernacle He created by the salvation you received? God makes tabernacling with Him available to us through His Spirit dwelling in each believer in Jesus. We Christians are privileged to be with God in every breath we breathe. Draw close to God and be with Him; He is for you.

God is as close as your next breath.

Are you tabernacling with God, spending time with Him each day? He is calling to you.

Do you want closeness to God—the Father, Son, and Spirit—but do not know how? Write to me and I will lead you to know God through the salvation Jesus  gives.

 

Get Closer

 

 

“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

— Matthew 7:3

 

A speck is just a small particle of something, like chaff, straw, or a splinter. In this parable, it’s a sin but not a flagrant rebellion upon which other sins and one’s life has been founded upon.

 

Often, our sins become a foundation for a way of life we begin to follow or make our life be centered around. It’s not a way of life that glorifies God. It’s self-centered. This way of living becomes quite noticeable to other people. They begin to associate the sinner as the one who does that action, whatever the sin is. Their beam is big and very obvious.

 

Often, a person will find a sin in someone  else so that the focus of other people is on that person instead of him or herself, the beam-blinded sinner. They forget that by pointing their finger at the speck-obstructed person that four fingers point back to themselves. 

 

God’s focus never moves away to another by our pointing fingers. He sees us and knows us. God knows our hearts and our sins. He experiences the pain of our beams and specks. 

 

Confessing of our sins to God and repenting of them provides the pivot point for Him to remove each of these elements of sin. God’s removing the beam and speck only at confession doesn’t mean He cannot remove it before then. It means we’ve gotten closer to Him by seeking Him with our whole being and asking Him to remove our sins by confession and repentance. We’ve returned to the place where we choose Jesus to be our foundation, not the beam.

Love Your Enemy

 “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

— Luke 6:35

 

Love your enemies. Actively do what God prefers, in His strength and power, out of obedience to Him. We Christians can do that because we experience God’s love firsthand even when we don’t deserve it. We have His Spirit in us filling us with His love to overflow to other people, even those we consider enemies.

 

Do good to your enemies. In our own strength, powerless and fallen, we are unable. It’s one reason why Luke reminded us we have God’s agape love in us. Agape is holy, powerful, and selfless. It does not withhold goodness from a person because of the hurt a person did. It forgives. This goodness inherently comes from God because of His power. Can’t do good things for someone? Then go to God asking for His power and love and ability to forgive. 

 

Show the depth of love and goodness in you. Give your enemy something dear to you because they need it. God gave it to you out of love, and He is giving you His power and to love and do good even for people who’ve hurt you or other people. That’s not the greatest level of love. Loan to the person and don’t require it back or even interest on the loan, if it was cash. 

 

Why should we love, do good for, and lend to our enemies? Because God first loved us when we were sinners. We made ourselves to be enemies of God. He didn’t hold that against us, but He gave and showed us His great love. God did and does good for us. He gives without expecting us to repay Him. Of course, we could never be able to pay Him for all He’s done for us and given us. 

 

Why should we love our enemies? Because God loved us first, before we loved Him. Out of obedience to God, we tell, show, and live in ways that allow even our enemies to know God and receive His love. 

 

If you’re thinking, “What’s in it for me? I keep doing and doing, but I keep being stepped on,” consider what Luke wrote at the end of this verse. “Your reward (from God) will be great and you will be children of God.” You will receive in commensurate and overflowing measure what you gave, did, or said in love for your enemies. You will be known as a child of God because of your actions, words, and gifts to those who’ve sinned against you. Should we expect anything better than what Jesus received? And yet, He loved even His persecutors so much that He asked His Father to forgive them while He Himself was on the cross. And He agonizingly died willingly for them. For us. 

 

What’s in it for us? We get to see the “lights turn on” in the minds of our enemies as they recognize then accept God’s love. We get the privilege to experience God’s power moving us in obedience to Him. We get to be known as and called children of the Most High God by people and, most importantly, by God. 

 

Love your enemies. Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting a return.

Fear or Trust

 

The LORD Almighty is the One you are to regard as holy. He is the One you are to fear; He is the One you are to dread. Hosea 8:13 (NIV)

Let me be perfectly transparent; deciding to return to South Africa (SA), where we have lived and worked, has been a very hard decision. I would like to say it was not and that my walk with Jesus has grown me so I always decide at once to do God’s will. But, let me tell you, I am human. Like you, I have senior-aged parents, adult children, grandchildren, and friends in America whom I miss terribly and whom I cannot help, especially my mom, stepmom, and stepfather. Life is easier here in America. I generally can find anything my mind can ever think of wanting. (That does not mean I need it!) I am now vaccinated against COVID-19 here. I would not be in SA. The variants in South Africa are more virulent so I do not trust that I am safe from them. Let me say it again; this has been a very prayerful season in America. Each time we go on stateside assignment, we are prayerful. This one was, for me, a wrestling with God to figure out His will exactly and to bring myself in alignment with Him.

God and I have been having deep and long conversations about returning to South Africa (our home) since I arrived here in October for my third child’s wedding. This conversation became more desperate by the end of March when I had not heard from Him definitively if we can stay in America or must go back to SA. Since becoming a Christian, when I professed saving faith in Jesus when I was fourteen years old, I listened to my ministers teaching that unless you hear from God to change what you are doing, keep doing what He last told you. As I asked God if He wants us to go back to SA, I heard nothing from Him in my first months in America. I understood that meant, “Yes.” God wants me to return there. But being human and hoping for a new direction, I asked and kept on asking. I asked prayer-sisters to pray as I battled with God about this. Understand this, God did not battle with me; I battled with Him. My battle was seeking to understand for sure if I must return to SA. It was a battle of my will against God’s, though I already understood what He wanted me to do.

Sunday, I told God, I recognized you want me to return to SA, but please, as I read Isaiah 8-11, show me explicitly. (I hate to admit that because that shows I am still weak. We all are. Hopefully, we are growing to be more like Jesus each day.) God honored my request and showed me His answer explicitly in His word. He taught me as He taught the Israelites, through His prophet, Isaiah. How I wish I were not comparable to the Israelites. Really, we all are like them. Our spiritual graphs go up and down like theirs did. Remember this, I never doubted God wanted us back in South Africa. I wished He wanted us in America. That point is where God met me.

The first thing we must know about Isaiah 8:1-18 is these are the words God spoke to Isaiah telling him what He will do to the Israelites and why. Isaiah’s written words were his response to God’s foretelling His disciplining the Israelites. Isaiah is like each Christian. God calls us to be His messengers and tell the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We each must remember He is Almighty. God is the only one who is Holy. Holy means He has never sinned. Can any of us say this? He is the standard for our lives.

In Isaiah 8:12, God told Isaiah not to fear or dread anything or anyone except Him. This fear is the reverence and awe of God and the fear for my life. Basically, God said, “Do not be afraid of what they may do to you but know I will discipline you, like them, if you do not obey Me.” Since God is holy, we need to fear, revere, and live in awe of Him. Because He is holy, no one is like Him. Paul wrote about this sinful state. He said, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” in Romans 3:23 (NIV). We do not need to fear anything or anyone else because God is Almighty. He destroys false Gods and reigns preeminent over all created things. As God’s messengers, those He calls to tell other people about Jesus, we do not have to fear other people or created things. Because God is holy, we should obey Him in fear and awe.

What does Isaiah 8:12 have to do with my situation? Well, God pointed out to me what caused me to ask for clear confirmation of His will for me to return to SA-fear. Fear was my excuse. I checked my heart and mind and determined of what I feared or dreaded (Is. 8:13c). I noted two things: having to leave family and friends and facing the third wave of Covid-19 in South Africa, where most recent cases are the Delta variant. Mentally, I did not want to face that crisis again. (I said I am human, remember.) Physically, I did not want to get the virus. I know doctors there with Covid-19 patients and they were afraid. Of course, other doctors are not afraid. God used Isaiah 8:13 to help me understand what caused my need for confirmation instead of just trusting Him. He reminded me He is holy and Almighty, and I do not need to fear or dread anything. I should fear only God with awe.

God told me one other thing in this speech to Isaiah. He said I should revere and be in awe of Him by being gratefully obedient to His will for my life. That means I need to “cheerfully” prioritize His will over my family and friends. Remember that verse in 2 Corinthians 9:7 where Paul wrote, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (NIV) Being a “cheerful giver” comes from our trusting God. We should give our tithes, our offerings to God, whether of our money, time, family, friends, and life, cheerfully, not reluctantly. We should give Him all we are and have each day because His love never fails. We can trust Him. God’s calling of us to be about His business never stops. He calls each of His children to tell the gospel to all people. God wants each person to know this, just like He did the Israelites. Our telling the gospel is one way to tithe of our time and self. If we truly love the Lord, we will want to give back to Him that which He has given to us for His purposes, our lives in obedience to Him. Does that mean there will not be tears when you say goodbye to friends and family or when you must bury your parents at whose side you could not sit when they died? No, there are tears. God gave us tears to help release the emotions of sorrow and joy. (Aren’t tears wonderfully refreshing?) With this part of the passage in Isaiah 8, I needed to decide if I would dread returning to the people of SA or if I would cheerfully go because they are the people whom God loves and to whom He sends me to witness and minister. Instead of dreading or fearing my return to SA, I can be like Isaiah was when he said in verse seventeen, “I will wait for the LORD. I will put my trust in Him.” We can completely trust God. If you are honest, He has never failed you. And He will not fail you. He loves you and loves the people whom He puts in your path daily.

When we completely trust God and not fear or dread what might come, we can experience the hope God gives each of His children. He gave us this hope when we professed Jesus as the Messiah, God’s Son. Yet, many of us allow fear and dread to overshadow that hope. Nothing ever can overshadow God or anything from Him, even hope. Nothing can hide the Truth and Light. What is this hope? Isaiah tells the Israelites this hope from God in Isaiah 9:2, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great Light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a Light has dawned.” (NIV) This hope is for the near future and the distant future. The Israelites had seen a great Light. They saw the fire lighting their way in the darkness when they left Egypt. And they would see this same light again. God was telling them to have hope because He would lead them back to the Promised Land after they became captives to Assyria and Babylon. God is faithful and will keep His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For the Israelites, the distant future held the hope of the Messiah, who One would come from a virgin and would be “God with us,” Immanuel. This hope God gave to the Israelites through Isaiah’s prophecy is a hope we Christians can hold on to even today. When we completely trust God and allow His hope to shine a Light for us and lead us, we do not dread or fear. We align our hearts with God to be cheerfully obedient, so the entire world will know about Jesus.

What have I relearned from God’s loving compassion and forbearance with me during this stateside assignment time? I can allow dread and fear to keep me from walking in the peace God gives through the hope He gave to me when I became a Christian. I can allow my excuses to keep me from serving God and have no peace about it. Lack of hope affects the heart, mind, soul, and strength and keeps me from loving God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. God spoke of this through Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Jesus spoke of it in Matthew 22:37, too. Jesus added one other commandment. It sums up the last six of the Ten Commandments. He called it the second greatest commandment when He said, “And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” I cannot do either of the two greatest commandments if I allow the fear and dread, which comes from Satan, to keep me from trusting and loving the Lord with my whole being. And do not get me wrong; I love God to the depths of my being. My commitment to Him 44 years ago when I became a believer in Jesus and 21.5 years ago when I first left America to go to South Africa show the depth of my love for Him. I have made this same decision every time I returned there after our stateside assignment times. Does my heart want to stay in America? Yes! But my heart longs even more to follow God. He continues to lead me to South Africa.

Ask that same question to yourself? Do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? If you do, then you will have no problem saying yes to the next question. Do you love your neighbor as you love yourself? Do you love them enough that you will do whatever God asks of you, go where he tells you to go, and live with and minister to the people He loves and has called you to serve? See, that is the rub. We must love God enough that no matter what He asks of us, we will not dread, fear, or offer excuses for not “being able” to go. I am still learning, but I can say God is my everything and my family falls in line right behind Him in my consideration. It does not mean I love my family less. I love them enough to show God means everything to me. It shows them just what everything means and becomes an example to them of love for God.

In the Chronological Life Application Study Bible (page 792), a commentator wrote this statement. “Although God may not always spare us from troubles, He will lead us safely through them if we follow Him wholeheartedly.” That is my God and I trust Him completely.

Will you trust the Lord today with your life, the lives of your loved ones, and your future? 

With God, there is no more fear or dread. 

For unto us a Son was born and given whose name is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And there will be no end to the greatness of His government and peace. With justice and righteousness, He will reign on David’s throne forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty accomplished this. (Isaiah 9:6-7, my interpretation)

God is still in control.

We have security in Him for our rapidly changing world.

Will you trust God?

Pledge of Hope

 “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.” 2 Corinthians 5:5 [NASB]

As I read 2 Corinthians 5 today, God made me aware of a few things I had heard in sermons over the years but had not put together into one train of thought. In this chapter, Paul wrote about living as a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. He told the Christians in Corinth about the mental tug-of-war believers live with continually from the day Jesus cleanses them from their sins and makes them a child of God. All believers experience this tug-of-war. They live in a sinful world and long to be with Christ in heaven, long to be clothed fully with the righteousness of Christ and live in a righteous world, His kingdom. Paul stated that he and other Christians’ desires to be righteous and in God’s presence forever is so deep that it causes them to groan and feel the burden of wanting the life Jesus offers to swallow up and take over their mortal life (2 Corinthians 5:4).

Have you ever felt this desire, this burden? If you’ve ever known a senior-aged adult Christian or a Christian who had a terminal illness, you will recall their spoken desire to be in heaven with God and their loved ones and not on earth. Their desire and burden are so great that it seems they speak of this every time you visit them and even mention it several times during a visit. If you’ve not spent time with someone who had this deep desire, then consider of a time when you wanted something very much. Maybe you’ve not been able to become pregnant and have children. Possibly you’ve wanted to go to university to study for a degree, but the funds were not available. Perhaps you have a family member who has cutoff communication with you, and you have prayed for them to have a change of heart so you can talk with them. Each of these are great desires. They are mortal desires. The desire to be in God’s kingdom and in His presence is an eternal desire. It originates with the Holy Spirit living within a person’s being. The Christian recognizes this world is not his/her own and wants to go to the place of peace, joy, and rest in the presence of God.

Paul experienced this desire. He said he preferred to be away from the body (his mortal life that fights against sin and decays) and at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:7-8). Yet, Paul knew only God knows the time of a person’s death. Because of his love for Jesus, he sought to please Him even while he lived in his mortal body on earth, and not just because he would stand before God’s judgment seat one day (vs 9-10). Paul said while he lived in his mortal body, he desired to please the Lord and that means loving Him. “Christ’s love compelled him and his co-laborers” to tell other people about Jesus and the salvation He gives to anyone who believes in Him (vs 11, 14-15). Because of their love for God and their desire to obey Him, they regarded other people the way Jesus does. Jesus desires each person be saved (2 Corinthians 5:15, John 3:16, 1 John 2:2, John 11:25, Romans 6:10). Prejudice should no longer have place in a believer’s heart. Instead, the love of Jesus for each person must be paramount.

Paul said each person who is a believer once regarded Jesus Christ with prejudice. We, mentally, said, “He could not be that powerful.” Or, we’ve said, “He cannot take away my sins. I am too stained and dirty from the evil I have done.” We might have said, “There is no God and so there is no Jesus. This life on earth is all I have, so why bother a God who was never there for me.” Each of these is a prejudice against Jesus and the Trinity. We judge Him as not powerful, not telling the truth, not caring and loving, not merciful and forgiving, and/or non-existent. Yet, the words in the Bible are testimonies from several millennia. The testimonies of believers, since Bible writers penned what God told them to tell people, proclaim God is real, alive, almighty, omniscient, loving, merciful, and Life-giving. Paul taught about God and the sufficient sacrifice provided for the sins of the world through the sinless life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. This is what Paul proclaimed. He said, “Though we once regarded Christ in this way (with prejudice), we do so no longer” (2 Cor, 5:16). Because Paul and his colleagues had no prejudice against Christ, they proclaimed Him through their lives and their testimony of what He did for them, who He is, what He called them to do, and to whom and how they were to proclaim Him. He proclaimed in verses seventeen and eighteen,

“Therefore, from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh [that is, with prejudice]; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Paul said in these verses, he and the other men with him had no prejudice. Why? Because when they believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, their Savior, He put into them His Spirit and made them a new creation. This new creation occurred at their belief in Him. When they trusted in Jesus, His Spirit came upon them and began changing them from their old, mortal, prejudiced self into His own image. Because Jesus was unprejudiced and came to earth to save each person, each believer is supposed to live a similar non-prejudicial way by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit changes a believer from the old nature (“clothing.” as Paul said) to the new nature. Christians understand and desire what Jesus desires, that each person would hear the Gospel and believe in Jesus as the Son of God for his or her salvation. Because of this, Paul said, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us” (vs 20). God’s desire for all people to receive salvation becomes the believer’s desire. This desire is part of the same groanings and longings Paul expressed in verse four. This desire comes because the Spirit makes Christians more and more into the image of Christ; Christ’s desires become their desires. Jesus’ desire is not just to be with His Father in heaven, but that each person receives salvation and change into His image (nature), change from their old, mortal, sinful nature.

Christians desire and long to be clothed by Jesus’ Spirit with the new nature He gives and to be with Jesus in His kingdom. While they live on earth in their mortal bodies, the Holy Spirit lives in them and changes them continually into the image of Christ. His indwelling is the guarantee, the pledge from God, of their future eternal change into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 5:5). The Spirit of Christ in a person is like earnest money put down for a house or car. It is a guarantee of the future fulfillment of the contract or understanding. Knowing the Spirit is within the believer, that person has hope that one day, the Spirit will one day completely cloth him or her in the new nature. When difficulties in life occur–temptation, trials, and persecutions–the assurance, guidance, and protection by the Holy Spirit remind the Christian of God’s assurance, His guarantee, that he or she will be in God’s kingdom and will experience peace and joy eternally with Him.

This chapter of 2 Corinthians tells us about some purposes of the indwelling Holy Spirit of Jesus. He lives in each Christian to assure the believer of his or her salvation. The Spirit in the Christian’s life reminds him or her of God’s eternal purpose for him or her with Him in His kingdom. The Spirit is the guarantee of being totally made in Jesus’ image. He gives the believer the deep longings to be with God and the desire to be on earth. This desire to be alive on earth comes with it the desire to love Christ by being obedient to His commands to tell each person on earth about Him. The Spirit puts into each Christian’s heart the love of Christ for each person so he or she wants to tell others about Him. Christians realize they are ambassadors for Christ. The Spirit living in a believer encourages, teachers, guides, protects, and remakes each person into a closer resemblance of Jesus Christ, changing them to have His love and non-prejudicial attitude, desires, and righteousness.

Today, we should each stop and consider what keeps us from believing in Jesus. Is it because it seems God is not real or does not care since you assume He is not listening to your prayers? Next, we should examine ourselves to determine where prejudice lives in our heart and ask Jesus to forgive us and make us like Himself. Then we need to ask Him to show us where we refused for Him to continue making us into His image and confess the sins He shows to us. We should examine ourselves to determine when and why we stopped believing in God and ask Him to remind you of the guarantee by His Spirit of your eternity with Him in His kingdom. Ask for forgiveness for judging Him and His purposes and ask that He put His desires in you, the desire to love Christ and love each person you meet because He loves them. Ask God to help you keep your eyes always on Him. Pray to Him for the will to love and obey Him, even when it makes little sense. Thank God for loving you and saving you. Praise Him for who He is, the eternal, almighty, omniscient, and omnipresent God. Praise Him for what He has done in your life and throughout the expanse of time from creation. Thank God for choosing you to be in a righteous relationship with Him.

The Holy Spirit in a believer’s life now is the earnest money of God’s love and plan for you, a plan not to harm you but to give you a hope and a future (Jeremy 29:11). His living in a Christian grows the person to be loving and unprejudiced like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit living in you now on earth is a taste of what you will be fully when you live with God in His kingdom for eternity. 

Each Christian can decide to let the Spirit to change him or her. That permission changes a person from being prejudiced into becoming like Jesus.  As a result, the Spirit, God’s pledge to Christians, reminds them of their future full transformation and transition to living in God’s kingdom. God will make each believer like Jesus and He will give them their inheritance, eternal life in His kingdom.

Will you live as one who received God’s pledge, or will you stay prejudiced?

Times of Our Lives

 

“Now it came about in the course of those many days…” (Exodus 2:23a [NASB])

Throughout the Bible, we read about men who encountered God, then sought for a secluded place. We read that God sent people to a place to prepare them for the next task, too. Often these times of preparation lasted forty days or forty years. The number forty denotes the separation of one epoch from another in Hebrew numerology. Sometimes the forty days/years was a time of rest and renewal and other times it was a time of testing. In each time, God intended it to be a time of growth in their faith in and relationship with Him. Let’s consider several passages that tell of God’s people and forty days/years.

Consider Moses. After he killed the Egyptian for severely beating a Hebrew (Exodus 2:11-14), he ran to Midian, helped water the sheep of the priest Reuel/Jethro (Exodus 2:15-22), and lived there for forty years before God commissioned him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt (Exodus 3:1-9). The years he spent shepherding sheep prepared Moses for the next epoch in God’s plans, to lead His people through the wilderness to His Promised Land. God used that time to attune Moses’ spiritual awareness to Him and grew him to learn how to lead, protect, provide, and intercede to Him. This epoch of 40 years changed Moses from being an Egyptian-taught Hebrew to be a man seeking God in all things.

If we continue considering other instances of forty days or years, we remember the Israelites spent forty years wandering in the wilderness. The Israelite adults, who feared the people of Canaan when their spies returned from scouting the Promised Land, would not see the land God promised to them. The forty years of their wandering separated two periods of time-the people who trusted God enough to leave all they knew in Egypt, but then lost faith in God and the time of God leading the new adults of Israel into the land He promised. The epoch of the forty years wandering in the wilderness changed the Israelites from fear and rebelliousness to newly maturing adults of faith. God grew the faith of the adults of the post-wilderness-wandering as they saw His hand in providing for and protecting them during the wilderness years. They became the people of God again and trusted Him completely during that epoch.  

Moses spent forty days on Mt Sinai. He often ventured up the mountain to be alone with God so He could speak to him, tell him how to lead the people, instruct him in how to handle and decide issues among the people, and grow him closer to Himself. During the time in which Moses spent forty days on Mt. Sinai, he received the Ten Commandments from God for the Israelites (Exodus 20). This forty-day’s-time signaled a new epoch for the Israelites. The new epoch occurred of Moses’ time on the mountain heralded in a time in which God’s laws would govern the people. The Ten Commandments provided a way for the Israelites to follow God. This epoch signified that God chose these people as His own. Before Moses’ forty days on Mt. Sinai, God called the Hebrews His people. Moses declared it to Pharaoh when he said, “Let my people go.” After his forty days on the mountain, the Israelites understood without doubt, as they bent their knees and committed with their mouths, minds, and heart, God chose them, and they chose Him to be their God. Their commitment to the Ten Commandments avowed this. For Moses, these forty days gave time for him to recharge and renew himself with God. He listened to God and committed himself anew to be His servant and lead His people. This epoch of time for Moses was renewal, recommitment, and continued guidance on how God wanted him to lead the Israelites. For the Israelites, this time was of rebellion and a time of recommitment to the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses came down the mountain the first time to see them worshipping a golden calf. He returned from the mountain with a second set of tablets holding God’s Ten Commandments to find the people submitting to God.

As we continue forward in time, we recall Elijah battling for the Lord to combat the pagan priests of Jezebel. After he slew hundreds of them, Jezebel declared her wrath on him. She wanted Elijah dead. Elijah, in fear, traveled with his servant into the desert. He walked for forty days to Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai). While at Mt. Horeb, Elijah stayed in a cave until God told him to stand before Him on the mountain. He experienced a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire while on the mountain. When this prophet heard a gentle voice after these three powerful acts of God, Elijah realized it was God’s voice. God knew about Elijah’s obedient deeds for Him. He told him to return to Damascus and anoint a new king and his own successor (1 Kings 19). These forty days for Elijah were an epoch of rest, reassurance, and revelation. Elijah went from a time of defeating priests of false gods and fleeing for his life to another time of God showing His love, favor, and provision with the anointing of a new king and prophet. Elijah would not walk alone. He believed God cared about him and understood his time was ending. A new prophet of God would speak to the people for Him. Elijah remembered anew God cared for him.

Before we leave the Old Testament, remember Noah and his family experienced forty days and night on the ark while it rained (Genesis 7). God took the world from one epoch to another. He cleansed it from the sinful people of the world. God used Jonah, too. He sent him to Nineveh to tell the people there that God’s judgment would fall on them in forty days. The Ninevites repented and returned to God during those forty days, and God withheld His judgment. The people confessed and repented of their sins (Jonah 3). God used that epoch of time to make them aware of their sin against Him and other people and to forgive and restore them into His good grace. The Ninevites had renewed life with God.

In the New Testament, after the dove of God descended from heaven on the day John the Baptist baptized Jesus and proclaimed God’s giving of the Messiah through Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17), Jesus walked in the wilderness for forty days (Matthew 4:1-11). During those forty days, He fasted, endured hunger, and resisted Satan’s three temptations. These forty days, this epoch in the wilderness, heralded a new time of the Messiah’s ministry on earth and His call to each person to believe He is the Son of God (John 1:29 & 36).  This instance shows the difference between the times in the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament shows movements of time as they relate to a person’s spiritual life on physical life on earth-a growing in faith, in doing God’s purposes, or rest and renewal. The New Testament shows the transitioning between Jesus’ life before baptism and after baptism and how that relates to a person’s spiritual life and eternity. Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness was an epoch that showed He is the Son of God and stronger than Satan. It served as the door-opener to Jesus’ ministry and thus, the door-opener for people to have more than just a law in how to see, seek, see, and follow God. Jesus is the door for each person to receive cleansing from their sins and be in God’s presence for eternity. With Jesus’ forty-day epoch, people grew from knowing about God to being able to be in a righteous and eternal relationship with Him. The epoch of forty days did not change Jesus. Before the wilderness He was the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. After this epoch, He was the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. God never changes, and no one thwarts His purposes. He is always faithful.

A last instance of epochal change occurs after Jesus’ resurrection and before His ascension (Acts 1:1-26). During the forty days of that time, Jesus gave the people many proofs He is the Son of God, the Messiah, by coming back to life after being dead (Luke 24:1-9), by walking with two of the disciples to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), by “explaining the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27), by breaking bread with them (Luke 24:30), by showing His nail-scarred hands and feet (Luke 24:39-41), by eating with the disciples (Luke 24:42), and by opening their minds to the Scriptures (Luke 24:45-49). He spoke about the kingdom of God. Jesus heralded His Spirit coming upon His disciples and all believers (Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:4-5). Then, while His disciples watched, He rose into heaven (Acts 1:1-11). This epoch of forty days rang in the time of salvation and victory over death for all people who believe in Him. From this point, with the power of Christ, believers could defeat temptation and were victors over death. Before this epoch-Christ’s resurrection and ascension-death had victory over people. No hope existed for resurrection from death or power to defeat Satan. With Jesus’ resurrection, believers can know Jesus will resurrect them. They can defeat Satan’s temptations with the Holy Spirit Jesus gives them. People no longer must be the lambs led to slaughter by Satan. Jesus has the victory and gives it to each person who believes in Him. Before Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, people had their own limited strength to fight Satan and had no promise or hope of eternal life with God. After His ascension, with His Spirit living in each believer, they could have His power to defeat Satan and would have His hope of victor over death and eternal life with Him in His kingdom.

Notice, many of the people in these Bible passages experienced difficulties before their forty-day epoch that brought with it a newness with God. They faced hard times, then spent time alone with God. In other instances, some people went into a period of seclusion with God before a hard time. Jesus is the only one who experienced difficulties before, during, and after his forty-days’ seclusion with the Father. He is the model for how to go through difficulties and how to be with God, being nurtured and grown for His purposes.

We need to notice God had a purpose for the forty days/years each person or the group of people experienced. That purpose was to prepare them for God’s next task, to give him/her a chance to recover, and to renew and recommit themselves to God. We can recognize evidence of God’s hand in the lives of the people during the forty days/years of seclusion. God grew their faith in Him. He provided their sustenance and restored them. God taught them leadership skills. He tested each person’s resolve.  God used the forty years to discipline His people. He used the forty days to protect, provide for, and prepare His people.

Some people experienced spiritual highs during the forty days, but none of them stayed on the mountain or in the wilderness. Each of them walked from their epoch with God to His next goal, whether anointing the next leader, leading a people to God, or providing a sufficient salvation and eternal life. The epochs each person faced changed them; it improved them and their relationship with God. The epoch did not change Jesus. It told Satan he had limited time remaining to deceive and tempt people. Jesus’ epoch heralded His ministry on earth where He proclaimed Himself as the Messiah God prepared as their salvation from the beginning of time.   

What does this mean for us today? Does God still give people epochs with Him? Do we need these epochs? Without doubt, people still need epochs, times, with God. Just as the people of the Bible needed these times with God for recuperation, renewal, recommitment, and for God to grow them for His purposes, we need them. As we live in this world filled with sin, persecutions, trials, doubts, and needs, we need time with God for His infilling of us. Whether this time is a day, weekend, month, or long sabbatical, time with God is a necessity for each person. We need time to meet with and be with Him. Epochs with God are especially important for Christians.

Being a Christian, a follower of Christ, means living like Jesus lived and wants us to live. He experienced difficulties before, during, and after his forty days in the wilderness. Those time periods in Jesus’ life on earth were epochs for humanity. Christians cannot expect anything different. Jesus experienced daily, continual communion with the Father before, during, and after that epoch, too. God wants Christians to have that relationship with Him, daily and continual relationship. Whether we are doing the most menial things (like mopping, cleaning a house, or taking care of a sick person) or things that gain us attention (like leading an organization or country, teaching at a prestigious school, or finding a cure for a dreaded disease), God wants to be with us through the days. The epochs for Christians are each time we spend communing with God. He grows us through obedience to Him. Times of communion should occur day. They can be times we set aside seeking God’s will in certain situations or seeking recuperation, too. Most noted for all Christians is the day each person believes in Jesus as his or her Savior and confesses and repent of his or her sins.

Each person is on a journey in life. For Christians, the journey is to be with God and bring Him glory. In each journey, epochs of time will arise where we seek and be with God. These epochs often are at times in our lives when things are in flux or need to change. A transition is about to occur. Jesus’ life and His own epoch in the wilderness remind us we can face persecution before, during, or after our time with God. No believer is immune to those times. Yet, the epochs of time that God gives each believer rejuvenate, renew, and equip us for what we have faced and will face. Epochs can cause strain, but strain/stress can grow us to be the person we need to be for God’s purposes. These times of epochs grow us to be closer to God, be on a higher plateau in our relationship with Him. They will make us more obedient to Him, too. One thing we each must remember is what occurred after each person’s epoch. They did not stay on the mountain or in the wilderness. They each obeyed God and served Him to lead people to Him so they could come to know Him as their Savior and to help them grow in their faith with God so they could be more like Jesus. We should not seek to stay on the mountain or in the wilderness, but should always desire to do God’s will and bring Him glory.

Where are you today? Have you heard God calling you to Himself to accept His sacrifice for your sins and believe in Jesus as your Savior? Have you heard Him calling you to draw near to Him for rest, renewal, growth, and a new task? Have you responded to God’s call to meet with Him, but refuse to leave the mountain or the wilderness in which you met Him? Each of these questions brings you to a time of decision. God loves each of us. He wants us to grow to know Him better and become more like Christ. He has a purpose for each of us, a purpose about love, life, and victory. Choosing to say, “No,” to God and not believing in Jesus, not going to Him for rest, renewal, and growth, and not leaving the place He called you for an epoch is rebellion against God, others, and yourself. This rebellion is sin.

We each have a decision to make now. Will you deny yourself and submit to God’s will of blessing, purpose, forgiveness, and eternal life?

“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But, seek first His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31-33 [NASB])

Thanksgiving in Colossians

In the second Bible study in this series on the Letter to the Colossians, titled Identification, we studied Paul’s introduction of himself and Timothy and his greeting to the church at Colossae. This greeting of Paul’s identified him as an apostle, a sent out one, of Christ by the will of God. Paul identified himself as a Christian and one who goes out to proclaim the Gospel. By this, the church of Colossae could recognize he was one to whom they should listen. Paul had credentials. Next in the greeting, Paul called Timothy “our brother.” With these two words, he identified to the Colossian believers that Timothy, too, was a believer and one who traveled with and learned daily from Paul. He was one they should consider highly, too. The people of Asia Minor, which included Colossae, knew of Timothy as one of their own since he grew up in their part of the world. The Colossians identified with Timothy as a man of Asia Minor. Paul, being from Tarsus, of Asia Minor, identified as one of their own, too. Between Paul and Timothy, their backgrounds covered people from Asia Minor who had Greek and/or Jewish backgrounds, just as the Colossian church comprised people from Greek and Jewish backgrounds. With the words of Paul’s introduction and greeting, he led the people to identify with him and Timothy and prepared them to listen and heed what he wrote to them in this letter.

With verses three through eight, Paul prayed about the Colossian brethren. This prayer was a thanksgiving to God for the faith of the Colossian Christians, love toward their brethren, and hope for their final reward. Notice, this prayer speaks of a multidimensional Christianity-upward to God, outward to other believers, and forward to eternity - shown by three words, faith, love, and hope.

Thanksgiving

To God

“We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you…” (Colossians 1:3 [NASB])

Paul, as Jesus’ sent out one, who identified with Christ and the Colossian Christians, offered a prayer of thanks to God. The word “thanks” comes from the same Greek work from which eucharist comes. The Greek word is eucharisteo. It means to give thanks acknowledging God’s grace works well for our eternal gain and His glory. For God’s grace, Paul thanked Him. Each time a Christian partakes of communion/eucharist/Lord’s Supper, he or she gives thanks for the grace God gave him or her through Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a time of remembrance of what Jesus did for believers and thanks for His grace He gave through it. Paul said the same thing in this opening of his prayer. He remembered with and for the Colossae Christians what Jesus did for them with His life, death, and resurrection, and he thanked God for the grace He gave them, which they accepted as His gift of love.

With the phrase “to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul began reminding them of who Jesus is. He alluded to the theme of this letter - Jesus, the Son of God, fully divine. Paul prayed to God, the Father of Jesus Christ, the Son who died and rose from death to give grace, mercy, and salvation. To this One, the One in whom Paul, Timothy, and the Colossian church had faith, he interacted. In this prayer, Paul pointed anew to the supreme deity of God. Because of God’s grace works in and for the Colossian saints, Paul thanked Him. He acknowledged grace and faith come only from God. Paul prayed in faith, praying in the way the Father desires, according to the Father’s heart, that the Colossian church would be persuaded completely and be full of faith in Him. He said he prayed always for the Colossian Christians. Paul prayed according to God’s will continually and in the way He moved him to pray for them. He was connected intimately with God and, through Him, intimately connected with the Colossian believers. He identified with God as His saved and sent out one. Paul identified with the Colossian Christians, too, as one who was a sinner saved by God’s grace through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Faith and Love

“…since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love, which you have for all the saints…” (Col. 1:4 [NASB])

Paul had heard of the faith and love of the Christians in Colossae. He would have heard it from the man he discipled who was from their region, Epaphras. Because Paul spent lengthy periods of time in Asia Minor on his second and third missionary journeys, he could have learned about the believers in Colossae at those times or from the people who wrote to him. What Paul heard is for what Paul thanked God. He noted their faith, pistis, in Jesus Christ. Notice, this belief is not in one’s self to do things, such as good works, or be things. This belief is in Jesus, the One who saves people from their sins and makes them righteous. Pistis means belief and true faith in Jesus as a gift from God. This faith gift from God is what persuaded them of the truth of Jesus Christ. As they acted on this faith, it produced more faith, so they grew in their relationship with God and in their service to Him. As any believer applies what they know, hear, and receive from God, more faith grows in them. They mature and bear fruit.

This faith and its growth in a believer leads to agape love. Agape love can only come from being identified with Jesus Christ. People cannot manufacture it. This love that is true and devoted; it is pure. Nothing changes it. This love is not hot one day and cold another. Agape love is the pure love from Jesus Christ. Each characteristic of God - Father, Son, and Spirit - comes from this pure love. The agape love Paul said the Colossians showed was love “for all the saints.” These saints of which Paul wrote were other people whom Jesus made holy through the redemption He gives. The Colossian believers enacted their faith in Jesus with pure love for other believers in Jesus Christ. They showed the love of God to other Christians. This shows the Colossian believers’ identification with God. Their faith in Christ led to love of Christ pouring out from them towards the saints. They identified with Jesus and with other believers. These Colossian Christians grew in their faith and showed Christ’s love to others. They had a vertical relationship with God and a horizontal relationship with people that was Christlike, from agape love. For their faith acted upon as agape love lived out among other saints, Paul thanked God.

Hope

“…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel…” (Col. 1:5 [NASB])

Paul began this next section talking of the third aspect of believers, hope. The first two were faith and love. Paul said in verse five, “...because of the hope…” Hope motivated the believers in Colossae. Hope without substance isn’t hope. Without substance, this describes just possibility. Hope that has a basis, a foundation, such as the Christian hope in Jesus that leads to an eternal reward, is something onto which they could be sure. The Colossian believers could trust and put their confidence in this reward, not because people told them about heaven, but because they believed unto faith in Jesus Christ and received salvation by His grace given because of His shed blood. That truth is the basis for Christian hope. Jesus never fails or lies. He is victorious over sin and death as the fully divine Son of God. The believers in Colossae held onto this hope laid up for them in heaven, which they gained when they heard and trusted in the truth, the Gospel. They lived out their faith with God’s agape love toward other believers because of the hope they had in Christ. The Colossian Christians’ faith, as God gave to them, was genuine as acknowledged by their actions of faith and because they looked toward the future of their completed salvation and acted in the present.

 

Word of Truth’s Sufficiency

“…which has come to you, just as in all the world, also, it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing even as it has been doing in you since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth…” (Col. 1:6 [NASB])

Paul is famous for his unending and complicated sentence structure. This phrase begins with the last words in verse five. It speaks of the Gospel. The word “Gospel” comes from the Greek word euaggelion, meaning the truth of the good news of the Messiah. Paul stated the Colossians faith, love, and hope came from the Gospel, the good news of the Messiah. This Gospel that came to them and which they heeded was the word of truth. Remember, God is the definition of truth, the source of truth. His character is truth. So, if something comes from Him, it is the absolute truth. Understanding this was important for the Colossian believers because they lived in a city and region bombarded by Greco-Roman gods, Babylonian gods, Greek philosophical thought, and Jewish legalism. This combination of influences with bits and pieces of ideas taken from Christianity led to the beginnings of Gnosticism. The truth from God of the good news, the Gospel, is absolute. Paul inferred no other philosophical thought or faith system is truth if it differs from God’s truth.

Paul continued explaining how they could know for sure this word of truth they received is the truth. He said a faith in the word of truth constantly bears fruit and increases. He said this word of truth is the same as what had been and was being presented in the entire world. The increase is the number of people from different tribes, nations, and tongues who believed in the truth of God. Know by its increase, its fruit. Just as it bore fruit in the Lycus River valley with actions of godly character and conduct, it was effective beyond there and bore fruit elsewhere, too. This fruit of the Gospel in believers’ lives didn’t just bud then die away, but word came of its growth and maturity. It increased and spread. So, too, did the faith of the Colossians grow richer and deeper. It matured in them. God’s truth didn’t need supplementation by other thoughts or religions. People need nothing else for the Gospel to save them when they believed in Jesus Christ. This word of truth, the Gospel, as the believers in Colossae listened to and understood it from Epaphras, is the grace of God. The Gospel preached to them, which they believed with the faith God gave them and the faith that grew and matured, is God’s truth and is sufficient for salvation from sins and receipt of eternal life with Him. Paul said no person needs to add anything to what they received from God’s sent ones to give them salvation and eternal life. Writing this in his thanksgiving to God foreshadowed what Paul's purpose was for this letter. Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient.

Faithful to Christ

“…just as you learned it from Epaphras, our bellowed fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf…” (Col. 1:7 [NASB])

Paul identified he knew from whom the believers in Colossae heard the Gospel. The verb Paul used is a prolonged verb. What they learned began at a point in time and they kept learning, so it became a part of their lifestyle, continuing to learn from experience as they walked with Christ each day. Paul acknowledged the believers in Colossae not only believed, but they kept on believing and grew in their faith. They matured and increased, as he said in verse six. They learned and kept on learning by living with Jesus every day. Paul mentioned Epaphras because he trusted what he taught and preached to them since he personally discipled him. He knew Epaphras taught the truth of God. Additionally, by mentioning Epaphras, Paul reminded the believers of Colossae to remember and hold on to the truth Epaphras told them. Don’t let anyone water it down with other philosophical thoughts or faith systems.

Paul called Epaphras a “beloved fellow bond-servant.” This phrasing meant Epaphras was one of them; they followed Christ together. Both Paul and Epaphras identified with Christ. He called him a bond-servant. A bond-servant is someone who voluntarily submits to another person. It doesn’t occur by force, authority, or monetary debt. Epaphras, like Paul and Timothy, accepted the truth of the word, the Gospel, and voluntarily submitted to Christ as His Lord and Savior. Wherever God told Him to go and to whoever God told him to speak, Epaphras would obey. God controlled his life because he gave it to Him. By this, Epaphras was a bond-servant of Christ. Besides being a beloved, fellow bond-servant, Paul said Epaphras was faithful. This word comes from the same root word as the word “faith” in verse four, pistos. Epaphras did not begrudgingly obey God. He did not say, “I’ll do anything, except not that, God.” He was a faithful servant. Epaphras, fully persuaded of the truth of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, lived a life of growing and maturing faith upon which he obeyed God. Inspired by Jesus, he carried out His plans for each person to hear the Gospel. Epaphras lived and breathed to tell the Gospel. He became a teacher of the Christian faith as a beloved and faithful bond-servant of Christ. Epaphras’ cause, his purpose for telling others about Jesus, was three-fold. He acted because of the call Christ had on his life. Epaphras identified with Christ. He, too, acted with other men and women to make sure each person heard the Gospel. Epaphras identified with other sent out ones. Finally, he acted out of agape love for other people. He did not want any person to die without knowing the grace, salvation, and eternal life that faith in Jesus gives. He identified with unsaved people because he had been an unbeliever. Because of Epaphras’ faithfulness to Christ, the Colossian Christians could trust completely in the truth Epaphras taught them. They didn’t need new teachers or to add other things to what Epaphras taught them. Epaphras’ faithfulness to God and to the people of Colossae shows pure love, agape love. Epaphras’ and Paul’s faith, hope, and love, resulted in proclaiming the word of truth and being faithful to Christ.

By the Spirit

“…and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.” (Col. 1:8 [NASB])

In verse three, Paul said he and Timothy had heard of the faith in Christ of the Colossian believers. He did not state from whom he gained that information. In verse eight, Paul wrote that Epaphras told them of Colossians’ faith. A young pastor reported to his mentor/discipler what was happening in the church he planted in Colossae. He wanted Paul to know what was happening in the Lycus River valley. Epaphras excitedly told what was happening in Colossae and the growth he saw in the believers. The first sign of belief in Jesus in a Christian’s life is the love that flows in and through him or her, outward to people and upward to God. Epaphras told Paul of their love. He didn’t tell them of philia love, deep friendship, but of agape love, a love for everyone that has its source in God. The Colossian believers, according to Epaphras, identified with Christ and identified with other believers. He said they did it in the Spirit. Identification with Christ and other believers is not recognizing them, but more than that. Identification is recognizing and loving them without considering their worth. Just as God loves each person. The Colossian Christians’ identification with Jesus and other believers came from love. The Colossian Christians did not love from their own capacity, but with the capacity and unselfish love of God. Epaphras told Paul of the Colossian believers’ maturing faith, Paul wrote.

Thoughts to Consider

Have you understood everything Paul said in this six-verse passage of Scripture? Paul was very precise in what he said. He packed much into his sentences with many dependent clauses. Paul, like any good teachers and mentors, began this letter and his thanksgiving to God for the Colossae church with the good news of the growth of these children of God in love, faith, and hope, the three aspects, or as R.E. O. White says, “the dimensions,” of Christian experience. He thanked God for the people of Colossae who had become Christians because of their faith, which manifested itself through the love and hope that comes from God. Paul recognized these co-heirs in Christ identified with God and with other believers. Paul briefly reminded these believers that Jesus is fully divine, and His sacrifice is sufficient for salvation. They did not need to add another philosophical thought or faith system to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection to receive salvation and an eternal inheritance in heaven. Paul encouraged the Colossian believers further by telling them what they had heard from Epaphras came from a fellow beloved bond-servant of Christ, just as he himself is an apostle of Jesus Christ by God’s will.

Consider these questions as you process today’s Bible study.

• Has your faith in Jesus shown in love for other believers?
• Have you lived out your faith by telling someone the word of truth?
• Do you look with expectation to receive the hope God laid up for you in heaven?
• Does your faith keep you strong and steadfast in your faith in Christ?
• Have you mixed anything else into your belief in Christ because it seemed like the right thing to do, things like ancestor worship, idol worship, sacrificing animals when you sin?
• When people look at you, do they see a faith in Christ that bears fruit and mature constantly by your heart, words, and actions?
• Are you continuing to learn and grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus?
•  If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, what keeps you from believing in Him as your Savior?

Paul wrote to the Colossian Christians to do more than boost their morale with his thanksgiving to God. He foreshadowed of the theme for this letter in his prayer we studied today. Jesus is fully divine, and His sacrifice is sufficient for the salvation of every person who repents and believes in Him as the Son of God. As always, Paul’s love for other people caused him to teach and correct them so Satan’s deceptions would not lead them astray.

Paul would later pray for these believers to have the knowledge of God’s will with spiritual wisdom and understanding, to live a life worthy of God, bearing fruit, increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with God’s might and power, ensuring and being patient with joy, and giving thanks to God, the One who qualified them to share in the inheritance of the saints. (Colossians 1:9-12)

For us today, we must ask ourselves if we are persuaded fully of the truth of the Gospel about Jesus Christ. Does it impel us to live a life of growing and maturing faith shown by obeying God? We should ask ourselves if we live a life worthy of God. Paul, Epaphras, and Timothy did. Where do you stand with Jesus now?

For next week, re-read Colossians 1:9-12.

If you want to talk about this Bible study or want to know about Jesus so you can receive the salvation from sins He offers, contact me through the contact form on my website. I will write back to you.

“[I] am giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” (Colossians 1:12 [NASB])